Douglas Field Published on Dec 30, 2015what if 2016 greetings
New Year greetings to Elizabeth and all What if? Dunedin contributors and readers

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I’m with Mick, our man Douglas —to All who write, or visit here in great numbers – you roast turkey, raise spirits and make us laugh! Safer in print (yes!) than foisting some troll Guy under the Gods’ establishment.

Lee, “Looking forward to us turning up the heat next year…” for sure. For one thing council elections are getting closer, making every word and action, wise or (too frequently) jejune/irresponsible/furthering personal agenda, will acquire greater significance as indicators making up a pattern from which to judge each present councillor’s fitness to represent us – or indeed to carry out any activity that involves spending other people’s money. In addition recent forced removals of material from this site got up the noses of a good many people, the kind of folk who think if people’s competence is put under a public microscope the correct way to deal with their critics is to lift their game, not to put duct tape over the mouths of all the people who object to high rates for 3rd rate performance. And these people who rip duct tape off delicate surfaces without flinching are not the kind to take mildly to bullying, to being told “you can’t discuss that”.
The internet is interesting that way. One of the best-known examples is Kim Dotcom, one site shuts and another starts up – though since he was in the cross-hairs of the CIA/US Big Biz, it’s not an example wholly relevant to this shrinking, debt ridden greenery-yallery city.

axeman • 2 days ago
Just don’t treat me like an idiot, I have a mind, I have intellect, I can make my own mind up on matters. I do not need direction or opinion, I can form my own. Let me know what is going on, what are the facts and report on what matters. I am not interested in scandal, all I want is the news untainted. Then I may return

Nermal > axeman • a day ago
So true. Once we used to be told what actually happened, and then could make up our opinions about it. Now we are given opinions and have to try and work out what actually happened.

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Lance Ralph > Pluto • 2 days ago
Reminds me of the old John Lennon lyric:
“I’m sick and tired of hearing things
from up-tight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites.
Just give me the truth, all I want is the truth.

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Jon Low • 2 days ago
The mainstream media concentrated all power in the hands of the omniponent Editor, who could decide whose views made the editorial pages and the letter and op-ed pages while everyone else’s went into the obscurity of the editorial wastepaper basket.

Then along came the internet and blogs and viewer-feedback columns and it emasculated the editors. The new maverick medium democratised and liberated a hitherto strictly-censored vox-pop. Nobody has to kowtow to or curry favour with now-toothless editors. And they’re hurting terribly, having been ousted from their thrones so swiftly and unceremoniously.

“Then along came the internet and blogs” and then society’s well-placed who had benefited from comfortable knowledge that with Editors on the *right* side i.e. not allies of the common tax-paying peasantry, no discouraging words would appear in their columns, no matter how feckless, useless, gutless and even charmless they might be. Now they are faced with the chaotic internet. Highly personal-idiosycratic; commercial/individual (Facebook pages); ideological; anarchosyndicalist groups; protest/issues focused – there are sites and blogs of every shade and they are devilish hard to “manage” (massage) in the cosy old Old Boys, quiet word in the ear at the Club, way. We have seen over the years attempts to impose silence, either by threats of legal reprisals or the more effective method used in countries with more … um, vigorous … or perhaps brutal … politicians with very keen armies. It’s hard to imagine anyone in Dunedin with the stomach for overt action of either kind, given the velocity with which such missiles figurative or literal can ricochet “back to you twice over with knobs on” as we used to say at school.

Yes Mr Hype the power of the internet and the ‘Force is with us” on blogs such as this. And this despite the ‘shutting down’ of certain threads here, there are sufficient people here who are well aware of the reasons and their anger will in turn be aroused. There are blogs that are well outside the reach of the petty little people who have done this that can carry the battle forward.

Our wordsmithing and use of every-day garden metaphor just have to improve – the site is already international (in 2015 there were people from 172 countries visiting here). Code is in for 2016, as much as earthy BW street-speak.

The only memorable thing about 2016 is that 15% of this century has gone down the gurgler, together with Dunedin fortunes thanks to pathetic administration aided and abetted by a series of compromised elected mayors and councillors. We have a totally uneconomic $250m stadium, a non revenue producing $30m museum, a $50m conference centre, a half baked $20m plus cycleway, and a commitment to sustainability, which means all things to everybody and nothing to no-one. The net result is a consolidated debt hovering around ($600m) and increasing rate bills for the citizens. The fact that this is an election year is some cause for serious reflection by the voters if they want to see Dunedin with a future worth having.

To be honest, Calvin, I’m not a fatalist but I don’t think the City can ever recover financially – and I hope that before the elections we can get a Commissioner in, after the mayor and councillors are thrown out by Central Government. Paula Bennett, HELP.

Calvin. Watch this space. Being election year you may see one of the lowest general rate increases for a number of years. That will look good for the headlines, but hidden away in the depths and unseen by the general public could be one of the highest targeted rate increases this city has seen for a long time.

Simon. You may well be right. Me, I think the bigger factor will likely be external such as a simple thing like a meaningful rise in interest rates. That would bring home the reality of the $600m debt. Then see the consternation on Cull’s face and the twitching of Richard Thomson’s moustache.

### ODT Online Wed, 30 Dec 2015Your Say: Another view for the new year
By russandbev
OPINION Certainly the end of a year is a time for reflection and a time for setting new goals and your editorial goes some way in doing just this. But the problem will be forever in aligning hopes with reality.
I walked a fair bit of the length of Dunedin’s main streets over the last few days as well as driving round many of the suburbs and tourist spots and was again shocked at what I saw. […] What can’t be seen is perhaps the most important. Despite the editorial’s rosy view of the stadium, no matter what type of glasses are used to view it, it remains a huge financial drain on the city with costs becoming increasingly difficult to identify through the separation of all the strands of income and expenditure. Up to $20m a year has been identified as the real cost and this is unsustainable when little or nothing is seen to be able to be recovered from its primary user and maintenance is looming.
By far the biggest unseen factor in Dunedin’s future is the current debt levels. Dunedin is second only to Auckland in debt level per ratepayer and when the populations are compared then it can be readily seen that Dunedin through its ageing and generally low paid demographic simply cannot afford to invest in its basic infrastructure to attract and hold new businesses. No matter what your politics, Dunedin has been very badly let down by successive elected representatives and the situation not helped by what seems disproportionate levels of money vanishing from City coffers. This situation is not made easier by politically motivated excursions into rash and expensive cycleway projects, the inattention to basic infrastructure design, installation and maintenance and failing to accept the fact that Dunedin is no longer the important centre it once was. […] What the City needs in 2016 is a series of basic solutions to the shortfallings in infrastructure, a rapid paydown in debt, a determination to raise the income from the stadium from professional rugby who are awash with money, and no more hare-brained vanity projects.Read more

FIRE: ADDRESS HOTEL AND CONDOMINIUMS, DUBAI
Another skyscraper fire at Dubai…. fire engineering anyone ??
Fire reported to have started outside the 20th storey (how? and what fuel supplied the fire up the building exterior?)

The CBSN coverage is some of the most comprehensive available.

CBSN Published on Dec 31, 2015Massive fire at luxury skyscraper in Dubai
The Address Hotel, a luxury skyscraper in downtown Dubai was engulfed in flames near the site of the city’s planned New Year’s Eve celebration.
CBSN’s Contessa Brewer reports.

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At 63 storeys (302 metres) the five star luxury Address Hotel is taller than the Shard in London.
The Address skyscraper is directly connected to the Dubai Mall.
Commentators are saying the building may collapse.

“The left side of the hotel is completely gone,” Al Jazeera’s Diana al-Rifai reported from the scene. “There was a minor stampede – panic set in and people ran away.” Link

A massive fireworks display kicked off New Year’s at the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, while plumes of smoke billowed in the air from a fire raging at a nearby luxury tower. Tens of thousands of people whistled and cheered at the show taking place at the Burj Khalifa skyscraper as teams of firefighters were working to put out the blaze that had engulfed a 63-storey luxury hotel and residential building. Just minutes before the fireworks began, large explosions could be heard from inside the burning building, which was cloaked in thick black smoke. It was not clear what caused the blasts. At least 14 people were slightly injured and one person suffered a heart attack from the smoke and over-crowding during evacuation late on Thursday, according to Dubai Media Office. The statement said another person was moderately injured, without elaborating further. No children were among those injured, it said. However, a medic at the scene claimed that at least 60 people were hurt. Around 1 million people had been expected to gather around the Burj Khalifa to watch the fireworks. Dubai’s economy depends heavily on tourism, and New Year’s is one of the busiest seasons, drawing people from around the world to watch the fireworks that the emirate puts on at the world’s tallest tower, as well as the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab and over a man-made palm-shaped island.Read more

The fire broke out at about 21:30 local time (17:30 GMT) and appeared to engulf much of the Address Downtown, a five-star hotel and apartment complex, within 10 minutes.

### bbc.com 1 January 2016
BBC News: Middle EastDubai seeks cause of massive hotel fire at New Year
The authorities in Dubai are trying to find out what caused a spectacular fire to engulf a 63-storey luxury hotel in the city centre on New Year’s Eve. After battling for more than 20 hours, firefighters appear to have extinguished most of the blaze at the Address Downtown Hotel. […] The tower was evacuated and 16 people were hurt. A fireworks show went ahead at the Burj Khalifa tower nearby, the world’s tallest building and an iconic symbol of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). […] The pictures show the facade facing the Burj Khalifa had been severely damaged by fire and smoke, and that all floors from the lower area of the building to the upper levels were affected. The cause of the blaze, which is said to have started on the 20th floor, is still not known.

Supervision of contractors, zero in this case ? And where were the councillors in the Metropolitan ward – not out doing roading and infrastructure checks on their breaks and weekends? To see if staff were doing their jobs? Accountabilities start with the governance level of this city council. Or had the councillors forgotten, on their bloated stipends and hearing fees.

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MERCHISTON STREET, ANDERSONS BAY

### ODT Online Sat, 2 Jan 2016Residents unhappy with state of street
By John Gibb
Residents say they are “fed up” with loose gravel and tar in an Andersons Bay street over the past 10 months. […] The problem, in Merchiston St, has come to a head since the street was resealed in the past fortnight.Read more

Douglas Field Published on Jan 2, 2016DCC Chip seal saga 2 1 2016 camproj
Problems with road sealing with mettle chips and tar concerning residents. They say they are “fed up” with loose gravel and tar in an Andersons Bay street over the past 10 months.

Trust Dave, he’s a Mayor who knows what’s what and tells it like it is:
Listener Jan 9 2016, p30
“The evidence is overwhelming,” says Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull. Rising sea level is not a remote future threat for his city; it is already here. “It’s happening to us, and it’s happening now.”

The Listener feature is a complete scandal, mouthing off the indefensible, sinking into own politics that even the local Greenies aren’t putting their names to. Funny that. Maybe they know better. South Dunedin has sustained for a very LONG time, for generations. There is no sudden calamity – years of deprivation, lack of area investment and cycles of bad government do not an urban retreat make.

ELECTION YEAR – GET RID OF FLUFF

The Listener (not a production I enjoy reading and one I rarely take pains with) garnishes around ‘sea level rise’… makes prominent weird breast beating by the mayor, who again calls for a ‘retreat’ from South Dunedin. I can’t fathom it, is this his hyperthetical truth: to induce a housing boom that no-one can afford (read: wealth transfer / further impoverishment) – or wants, under the skirts of the Town Belt.

Not a boom – a downward spiral of detestably ugly habitable rooms for the already disenfranchised ratepayers and residents of this city.

From what she said at the meeting last night I get the impression Sue Bidwell is less than convinced. I saw her leaving the meeting and despite the light rain she didn’t even change into gumboots to go home.
Dave himself seems to be distancing himself from that expression of certainty….. China, that’s nice’n’distant. I hear the Gobi Desert’s a great place for a long bike ride this time of year.